彩 虹 澳洲专业华人俱乐部 (CPCA) 期刊 Chinese Professionals Club Australia (Victoria Branch) 主办 -- 第二十四期 -- -- 季 刊 -- （一九九九年十月出版） （一九九三年创刊） 己卯年九月 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 本期目录 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 【编辑前言】 邱彬 2. 【理事会 】 CPCA 1999届理事会第三次会议纪要 赵明 CPCA 近期活动计划 赵明 3. 【近期活动】 以牌会友, 不亦悦乎? 张悦 MONASH UNITING CHURCH International Dinner 张悦 4. 【他乡记实】 慕尼黑啤酒节 程一兵 5. 【"我 们"】 孩子的故事 戎戈 我的微笑 赵晓林（推荐） 请你猜一猜是真还是假 张庆原 洗手 郑智捷 6. 【诗苑 】 中秋有感 胡维平 7. 【讨论会 】 国家主权，人民利益和民主政体 赵明整理 8. 【笑林 】 何冀闽 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 彩虹网址 Http://www.vicnet.net.au/~cpca/news.htm (Click on Rainbow) ------------------------------------------------------------------- <彩虹>是由CPCA义务工作者提供的免费会员服务。请会员们积极投稿并提 出意见和建议。本刊所载的任何形式的稿件均不一定代表编辑、或CPCA的 观点。转载本刊文章须由作者同意。 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 请正确使用ＣＰＣＡ新电子邮址： Ａｎｎｏｕｎｃｅ Ａｄｄｒｅｓｓ：cpca-announce@vicnet.net.au Ｔａｌｋ Ａｄｄｒｅｓｓ：cpca-talk@mailhost.trl.telstra.com.au ------------------------------------------------------------------- 【编辑前言】 承蒙大家的支持，这期<彩虹>又与会员们见面了，作为<彩虹>前五期的编辑， 我知道大家都渴望更有趣的文章和更生动的版面。如果大家对过去几期有不满意 之处，我向大家道歉。从下期开始，我将不再负责编辑<彩虹>。在这里我特别感 谢这几期所有稿件作者和输入者，他们的无私劳动使得<彩虹>得以发行。祝<彩虹> 更加有趣，祝新编辑成功。 ################################################### 【理事会 】 CPCA 1999届理事会(墨尔本)第三次会议纪要 一九九九年八月二十日 赵明 CPCA1999届理事会(墨尔本)第三次会议在胡维平家举行。胡维平,张悦,赖颍, 赵明,孟宪昆,高梅出席了会议。邱彬因身体不适请假。 0.参观胡维平新居。胡的新居最近落成，是一座相当大的两层建筑。理事们情不 自禁借此机会楼上楼下参观了一遍。会议于8：30开始。 1. 接受新会员。 理事会审查并由理事长赵明签字接受了二位新会员。其中一位 新会员在阿德雷德工作时即已知道CPCA，最近因工作调动到墨尔本，立即在万维 网上找到CPCA的家页，填写申请表后寄给高梅。这种办法迅速方便，但却绕过了 经介绍人介绍这一手续。很明显，随着万维网的影响日益扩大，我们CPCA接受新 会员的方式也许应该作相应的改变。理事会没有对此进一步讨论。 会议讨论了目前理事会接受新会员的程序。现在的程序是由财务理事接受申 请表及会费，在理事会会议上通过之后转交负责数据库的理事登记在数据库及电 子邮件目录上，再转交给秘书存档和给新会员寄送欢迎材料。这个程序周期太长。 会议建议由数据库管理人直接与新会员联系，并尽量采用电子邮件。 2. 报告第二季度CPCA活动计划执行情况。在过去的三个月时间里，CPCA举办了五 月和七月两次双月活动，增加了一次税务专题讲座，组织了一次家庭聚会（上期7 月份的彩虹杂志有专题报道〕。 部分理事和会员最近参加了Uniting Church主办的国际日晚会。这是CPCA第 二次参加这个活动。教堂组织这个活动的目的是促进各不同民族之间的文化交流。 活动内容首先是聚餐，食品由参加者自己带来，类似于CPCA上次的春节聚餐。然 后是由各个参加晚会的团体表演节目。CPCA这次带来的节目是一个京剧唱段，由 孙守义演唱，夏克农操琴，然后是集体唱了两个中国流行歌曲。整个晚会上，除 晚餐前的祈祷之外，没有其他的宗教内容。部分参加晚会的理事认为，以后CPCA 若再参加这个活动，应该尽量挑选没有参加过的会员。 理事会注意到近年来会员参加CPCA家庭聚会不象过去那么积极，尤其是主动 承当东道主的不多。究其原因，年年如此没有新鲜感是一个原因，孩子们添麻烦 可能是另外一个重要的原因。理事会希望这个问题能在下一年的活动中得到改善。 3. 安排第三季度的活动。这个季度的主要活动有：九月份的中秋节晚会，十月 末的一期彩虹，以及十一月份的双月活动。 今年适值中华人民共和国成立五十周年纪念，墨尔本部分大学学生会和校友 会提议共同举办中秋国庆联欢会。理事会认为CPCA应该响应这一提议，共同举办 今年的晚会。我们可以借此机会，增进与其他专业同行的交流。 理事会考虑到由于2000年的到来，可能会有部分会员要在跨世纪之际在工作 单位值班，因而不能象往年一样出远门。部分理事提议今年的圣诞节和新年期间， CPCA应该组织更为正式一些的活动。 4. 彩虹杂志已经实现网络发行, 这样做CPCA节省了大量发行费用, 彩虹网址也 是CPCA的一个宣传工具。由于有中文的限制, 网络版一时还不能做到图文并茂, 如何改进, 理事会号召大家献计献策, 如能贡献宝贵时间, 将会更好。理事会将 继续为需要邮寄版的会员进行特别服务。彩虹成功与否全看会员们的支持程度， 理事会恳请全体会员为彩虹出一份力。理事会感谢所有近期彩虹文章作者和输入者。 5. 教堂最近提高了收费标准，从过去的50元到现在的100元，并明确表示只能使 用租用了的场地。CPCA今年年初一次付清了当年的场地租用费，到目前为止未被 要求补交费用。 6. CPCA会费是否可以退税的问题在上一期彩虹上作了报告。理事会接受了这一 报告，对报告中的说法表示满意。 7. 部分理事对理事会选举过程提出质疑。目前的过程是在CPCA年会（春节晚会） 之前征求新的理事会人选，在年会上经全体会员通过。老的理事在年会后正式退 出。新理事会在新年度第一次会议上选举理事长。这个过程带来的问题是：1， 老的理事义不容辞站好最后一班岗（见张玲在彩虹上关于春节晚会的感慨），而 新理事则可能在相当一段时间内不为广大会员所知。2，如果没有在理事长人选 上达成默契，从年会后到新理事会第一次会议期间理事长职务实际上是空着的。 理事会探讨了改革理事会选举过程的可能途径，并提出了如下的办法供全体 会员讨论：将理事会人选征求时间适当提前，经过全体会员在电子邮件上表决通 过。由新老理事会全会共同准备年会和春节晚会。新的理事会可以借此机会产生 下一届理事长。春节晚会由新老理事共同组织，并注重让新的理事会登台亮相， 组织活动。 会议于晚11:00结束。 =========================================================== ＣＰＣＡ 近期活动计划 赵明 CPCA近期活动通知 11月27日，星期六，俱乐部双月聚会。2：30－4：00pm,讨论会：E－Commerce，主讲人： 史鹤凌。4：00以后及晚上，卡拉OK大奖赛及其他活动。 2000年1月1日，CPCA千禧年庆祝活动。具体地点及活动内容尚未决定。部分会员询问新年 午夜CPCA是否组织活动。理事会欢迎会员提出各种建议。具体安排请等待进一步通知。 没有电子邮件的会员请注意与理事会或有电子邮件的会员联系。 CPCA活动简报 8月14日晚CPCA部分会员参加了由Uniting Church组织的International Diner.由于场地 限制，约30名CPCA会员及家属参加。CPCA表演了京剧选段和中国民歌小合唱。 9月7日理事长赵明及其他几位CPCA会员参加了与来澳大利亚访问的中华人民共和国江泽民 主席的会见。 9月25日CPCA参加了与若干大学的中国学生学者联谊会，清华和交大校友会共同组织的 庆祝中华人民共和国成立50周年联欢晚会。 10月24日，CPCA在Jells Park组织了BBQ野餐活动。 ＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃＃ 【近期活动】 以牌会友, 不亦悦乎? -- 记首届CPCA墨尔本地区桥牌赛 张悦 桥牌是一项益心智的体育活动. 现代桥牌采用复式赛, 即任何一副牌都被不 止一对选手在多个牌桌上重复打过, 以东西 /南北的相对成绩决定各方的得分. 这种竞赛方式有利于发挥参赛各方的技术水平, 具有充分依靠技术与同伴之间配 合取胜的优点,在最大程度上避免受到牌的好坏的影响. 这正是桥牌运动具有旺 盛生命力, 为全世界亿万爱好者喜爱的主要原因. 据了解, CPCA会员中桥牌爱好者大有人在. 为了满足桥友们的愿望, 作为双月活动的一部份, 首届CPCA墨尔本地区桥牌 赛于1999年 7月31日晚七时, 在MONASH UNITING CHURCH举行. 比赛实行单冠军 (豪威尔制)的双人赛, 即任何一对选手均与其他各对选手对垒一次, 且仅一次, 每次为一轮, 比赛在各个桌上同时进行. 在每一轮中各对选手的座位方向由事先 确定的移位表决定. 每副牌的成绩采用比赛分结算, 最后累记各对选手所得的比 赛分, 以总分多少决出冠军并排列出其他名次. 赛制, 器材, 裁判, 以及叫牌, 打牌和记分都采用国际标准. 总共有十三人, 搭配成六对选手, 分三桌进行了比 赛. 经过五轮二十副牌的激烈角逐, 最终决出名次如下: 第一名 刘永树/马义兵 第二名 (并列) 管小祥/张悦 刘海峰/钟文德 其他参赛的桥手有: 夏力戈/张新泉 舒德明/顾秋林 胡维平/赵继业 (后由孟宪昆接替). 比赛直至深夜十二点多才结束. 孟宪昆代表CPCA理事会向获得前两名的选手 们颁发了奖品. 为了此次比赛的成功, 孟宪昆做了精心细致的准备和组织工作, 刘海峰也为 准备器材出了力. 张悦在中国时曾获得中国国家体委授与的桥牌裁判资格, 本次 比赛不避嫌疑自告奋勇当了裁判 (兼选手). 比赛告终, 桥手们余兴未尽, 纷纷讯问下次桥牌活动何时进行. 另据权威人 士推算,CPCA桥牌爱好者远不止此次参赛者之数. 恳切希望今后有更多的选手参加, 在工作学习,买房盖楼, 植树种花, 郊游烧烤, 以及投资炒股之余 (如果还有余的话), 参加桥牌活动, 以牌会友, 不亦悦乎? ＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝ MONASH UNITING CHURCH International Dinner 张悦 MONASH UNITING CHURCH 一个时期以来, 近年来每年组织一次国际晚餐 (International Dinner)聚会. 作为关系单位之一的CPCA, 去年和今年都在 被邀请之列.笔者有幸与其他CPCA志愿者及其家庭一起参加了今年的活动. 晚会于 8月14日六时半举行. 被邀请的除了教友, CPCA成员之外, 还有许 多其他与MONASH UNITING CHURCH 有联系的社会团体和个人, 其中最引人注目 的, 也是来人最多的是土著岛民. 不同民族, 不同种族, 不同宗教信仰 (包括 无神论者) 欢聚一堂, 共度良宵. 参加晚会除了要准备食品之外, 更为重要的是要准备具有民族特色的节目. 教会提供了场地, 舞台, 桌椅, 音响, 乐器, 以及食品和饮料等等. 晚会开始后, 先由教会的MINISTER致辞. 祈祷之后, 参加者先品尝了中餐, 西餐和土著风味食品. 饮足食饱之后, 好戏开台. CPCA的两个节目率先登场. 先是两个由刘贵民 导演的合唱.第一支歌是 "纤夫 (与船女) 的爱" , 三个女声领唱莺啼鹂婉, 醉 人肺腑. 令人顿悟什么是 "只羡鸳鸯不慕仙" 的境界. 第二支歌 "酒神曲" , 回肠荡气, 撼人心魄. 饮食文化经常被人津津乐道为中华文化的瑰宝, 酒文化尤 为饮食文化的精髓. 唱到 "喝了咱的酒哇,见了皇帝不磕头" , 真有大诗人那种 "李白一斗诗百篇", "自称臣是酒中仙, 天子呼来不上船" 的潇洒气概. 节目之 二是孙守义的京剧清唱加上夏克农的二胡伴奏, 展示了中华传统京剧艺术和民间 乐器. 中华文化我们自是从小耳濡目染, 台下听众领会多少则是见仁见智了. 在CPCA的之后, 又有很多精彩节目上演. 给人印象最深的还是土著岛民的演 唱和舞蹈,大人和孩子同台共舞, 煞是好看. 晚会在十时半结束, 大家尽欢而散. 为了CPCA能够成功地表演节目, 参演者都进行过多次认真的排练. 张玲和 张庆原先后在自己家招待大家演习, 在此致谢. 同时, 笔者代表CPCA理事会欢 迎更多的新面孔参加今后同样或类似的活动. ################################################################# 【他乡记实】 慕尼黑啤酒节 程一兵 I went to Munich to attend a materials conference in later September, and only found out that the meeting happened to coincide with the famous Munich Beer Festival (Oktoberfest). It was raining when I got to the Beer Festival. But the rain made no difference to the thousands beer-lovers there. What caught my eyes first were those ten very big beer tents, each of them had a size about 6 basketball grounds and housed several thousand people. These tents were built up and managed by different beer manufactures. Men and women, many of whom wore traditional clothes, sat around the narrow tables which were very closely arranged one by one and all of them had a huge one-liter glass mug of beer in their hands. There was a live music band with about 20 musicians on the center stage above the ground in each of this tent. They played joyful music and singed traditional songs continuously, which were echoed by the people in their thousands. People were drinking and singing and many of them stood on the benches and tables and danced with the music. The house was absolutely full. Most people were, I guess, with their friends in groups and they had to book their tables well in advance. The bookings were usually for 4 to 8 hour sessions. Imagine how much beer they were going to swallow down. The bar ladies were very busy in and out this human sea to serve the order. It was amazing to see them holding up to ten of these one-liter beer mugs with their bear hands. What was more impressing was that not only were young people there, but many middle aged and old people there as well, and they were also singing and dancing and many of them danced on the tables too! The festival seemed to be everyone’s occasion. There was a huge funfair with hundreds carnival rides and food stands around these gigantic beer tents. All kinds of games and fun activities attracted thousand children and their parents and they all made fun of it. The people, music, noise and colorful lights all mixed together and formed an unforgettable picture. This was clearly the biggest and best party that I have ever seen. It was really touching to see so many people got together and genuinely and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. On the way back from the festival to the underground station, you started to see the fun side of the Germans. Some were so drunk that they danced through the busy roads with the red lights on and paid one finger salute to the drivers who gave the way to them. However, most of these people still knew their home address, I hope. For a few who even forgot their own names, there were a plenty of police "taxi" around for them. ######################################## 【"我 们"】 孩子的故事 戎戈 曾经给<彩虹>写过一篇短文，写过之后，就心里痒痒想再写一篇。毕竟， 不用担心退稿，又能当期发表，这样的好事上哪儿去找？ 我一直想写写关于孩子的事，可惜我这人记性不好，自己想好要做的事， 一转身就忘记了。没办法，手背就成了我的记事本，上面写满了该做的事。 可是关于孩子的点点滴滴，手背怎么够用呢？只好作罢。有时候女儿说一些 天真有趣的话，当时哈哈大笑，肚子都快转筋了，可过后又给忘了。问题是 我这人除了记性不好，还手懒，一点都没救。要是没有这两点，我大概早有 出息了。 言归正传，我还是想说说孩子的事，说说学校里孩子们的故事。在学校 工作，最大的好处就是永远的变化莫测，有时喜，有时怒，有时让人烦恼得 头疼，有时又让人感动得落泪，每一天都是一个新的开始，这样的充实感是 我从未在以前的工作中感受过的。 夏娜是个五年级的学生，基本上没见过她安安静静不说话的模样。每次 见到她，就会问我多大年纪，常常一天会问三遍。有时我会告诉她，“你看 我都被你问得累了，感觉上有七十岁。”有时我会说，“今天天气不错，心 情也不错，象是只有二十岁。”后来，夏娜不用问我，自己就会看我的年龄了。 大卫有五个兄弟姐妹，加之本人好动，所以时时刻刻都想引人瞩目，上 课时各种花样层出不穷。有一次，吃了两次警告依然我行我素，只好给他一 本书，让他到别的班去抄写中文，中午再请他留下来写检讨思过。下次上课 时看他安安稳稳的乖乖模样，真有种猫捉老鼠的胜利感。不过且慢，再下次 上课时这家伙又老调重弹，眼看着一次两次警告都不生效，我心里也直打鼓， “惨了，惨了，今天的午休又泡汤了。”这时真觉得猫把自己也给关到老鼠 的笼子里去了。 莉安的妈妈突然去世了，莉安小小的年纪一副心事重重的样子，每次见 了都令人心酸不安。这个懂事的孩子常常过来跟我拥抱一下，或来问声好。 有一次，我在操场上执勤，小姑娘笑眯眯地走过来，指著天上的乌云对我说， “今天我真高兴，我的妈妈在天上呢。我最喜欢有云的天气了，这样我的妈妈 就可以在天上看着我了。”我转过头去拥抱着她，不让她看见我眼睛红红的 样子。莉安的哥哥没有妹妹那么天真爽朗，他把一切都深深地藏在“瓶子” 里，又封得好好的，跟谁都不说。看见原来那么聪明，活泼又自信的脸变得 那么惨白，原先灵动的双眼现在常常带着受伤，猜疑的神情，谁见了都心疼 难过。好在他的同学们是那么懂事宽容，老师的努力也是那么得法，可以看 得出他正在慢慢恢复的自信 。 五年级的丹尼尔是个感情丰富的孩子，不过这一点在平时的课堂中绝对 看不出来。这个大个子的孩子有副与其个子相匹配的大嗓门，而且常常用在 不适当的时候，玩笑逗乐，令每个老师都头痛不已。学校组织去野营，刚到 营地，老师给每个孩子发了一个白布娃娃，他们可以把它画好，或请人在上 面签名留念。吃完晚饭，所有的老师和学生一起去散步，去找possum，一路 上只听见孩子们努力压低嗓门不停地说着话，几乎每个孩子手里都拿着一支 手电，毫无目的地照来照去，偶而有人发出兴奋的尖叫，大概是踩到根绳子 什么的。走在我前排的丹尼尔忽然呜呜地哭了起来，而且越来越厉害。我把 他拉过来，问他为什么，他一边哭一边说，“我想妈妈了，我无论如何得回 去看看她，要不就给她打个电话。”然后，他又指着手里的布娃娃说，“你 看，我把布娃娃一面画成妈妈，一面画成爸爸，我想他们的时候，就抱抱布 娃娃。”我一看，果然，真是个特别的布娃娃。没想到这个平时大大咧咧的 孩子是这么个有心人。回到营地后，稍事休息，营地表演晚会就开始了，叫 我不敢相信的是，刚才还哭哭涕涕的丹尼尔，这会儿正表演喜剧呢，而且逗 得人捧腹大笑。唉，这个丹尼尔。 学校里的故事真是无穷无尽，我要是有个巨大的手背，真可以写出许许 多多生动有趣的文章。要是有谁读得不过瘾，记得千万别怪我，得怪我的手 背不够大。 ====================================================================== 我的微笑 赵晓林（推荐） AN INSPIRING STORY I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called "Smile." The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions. I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway, so, I thought, this would be a piece of cake, literally. Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special play time with our son. We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did not move an inch...an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved. As I turned around I smelled a horrible "dirty body" smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally deficient and the blue eyed gentleman was his salvation. I held my tears as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm). Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes. That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action. I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue eyed gentleman's cold hand. He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Thank you." I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, "I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope." I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, "That is why God gave you to me, Honey. To give me hope." We held hands for a moment and at that time we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give. We are not church goers, but we are believers. That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love. I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand. I turned in "my project" and the instructor read it. Then she looked up at me and said, "Can I share this?" I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. She began to read and that is when I knew that we, as human beings and being part of God, share this need to heal people and be healed. In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my husband, son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student. I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn: UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE. Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE. If you think this story has touched you in any way, please send this to everyone you know. Here is an Angel sent to watch over you. In order for her to work, you must pass this on to the people you want watched over. An Angel wrote: Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart. To handle yourself, use your head, To handle others, use your heart. Anger is only one letter short of danger. Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. God Gives every bird it's food, but He does not throw it into it's nest. He who loses money, loses much; He who loses a friend, loses more; He who loses faith, loses all. Beautiful young people are acts of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself. The tongue weighs practically nothing, but so few people can hold it. ====================================================================== 请你猜一猜是真还是假 张庆原 我邀请了以下八位 CPCA 会员每人写下三句话，其中两句是真的，一句是假的。 从短短的三句话中，我们不仅可以品味到每人的风格，而且可以窥探到他们心灵的一角。 1 吴震家 a. 我出生于1949年，我的小名叫“解放”。 b. 我妻在北京初识我时，怀疑我是民运分子。 c. 我梦想有朝一日能放弃我的专业而从事社会的研究。 2 王荣生 a. 我每周都去教堂。 b. 我希望做一位好的家庭主妇。 c. 我不太喜欢动脑筋，愿意做一些简单的脑力劳动工做。 3 黄曦 a. 似乎很喜爱音乐可又不识乐谱。 b. 似乎很喜欢辣椒可舌头又不能承受。 c. 似乎很喜欢甜食可又担心身体会长胖。 4 郑智捷 a. 下一句话是真话。 b. 上一句话是假话。 c. 前两句话中那句是真的，那句是假的？ 5 詹君旎 a. 十五的月亮总引起我情思满怀。 b. 我们夫妇来自中国同一个城市。 c. 缘份使我们夫妻相遇异土。 6 何冀闽 a. 办工室，屋子乱点可以，衬衫还是要烫平整。 b. 很注意体形体重，所以平常不吃零食饼干。 c. 如果退休了还有精力，想去管个小农场或学个音乐学位。 7 张玲 退休后想做的事 a. 加入一个专唱古典歌剧(如莫扎特作品)的合唱团。 b. 写写自己一生的经历。 c. 周游世界。 8 胡维平 a. 在那遥远的地方，有只小山羊。每当你走过它的身旁，它都要回头把 你深情地张望--看你手里有没有青草。 b. 我的家在东北松花江上，那里有。。。 c. 他乡岁月稠，屈指十春秋。思念塞上伴，向北望神州。 请大家猜一猜每人的三句话中那句是假的。 比如说你认为王荣生（她排第二） 的第三句是错的，答案写成如下: 2(c). 最 后 的格式应是: 1(a), 2(b),.... ..8(c). 请把你的答案寄到我的email: lzhang@colonial.com.au。猜对一个得 一分，得分最多的前三名有奖。 正确答案下期公布。 ==================================================================== 洗手 郑智捷稿 戎戈输入 生活中常见的小事随着时间的流逝总是难得记起。但三十年前发生的一串 洗手往事，我却至今难忘。在1967-1968年间，中国处在文化大革命的高潮， 红卫兵全国大串联，播撒造反有理的火种。当时我在小学读书，大串联没有份。 学校停课闹革命之，我们这群没事可做的孩子到处游荡。去各大学校园观看大 字报，传递最新的传单，旁听热血沸腾的辩论者们为捍卫唯一正确路线的唇枪 舌战。亲眼目睹着这场轰轰烈烈的群众运动从街头庙会般热闹非凡的口角之争 变为棍棒，大刀，长矛进而迅速升级为以枪，炮，坦克，装甲车为主力的真枪 实弹的武装对抗。在文化大革命的旋涡中，昆明，这个四季如春的美丽花园城 市也变成了两派红卫兵为誓死保卫毛主席唯一正确革命路线的热血沙场。 面对当时越来越不安定的局势，我的父母特地把我和我的表弟从昆明送到 了外祖父的故乡-云南省，大理县喜洲镇。大理以盛产美丽的大理石闻名世。 苍山洱海风景秀丽，是中国的少数民族-白族的聚居地。白族是一个古老而又 现代的民族。在那里到处可见由圆圆的滚石建造的房屋，清清的溪流源于常年 积雪的苍山之巅孱孱流过各家各户的门前。外祖父的家族在当地是一个大姓， 仍有不少亲戚住在那里。从省城里来的两个小客人，在这充满乡亲和亲情的地 方倍受各路亲朋好友的热情接待。当时的丰盛菜肴，山珍海味已记不清了。然 而使人难以忘怀的却是每次吃饭和其他正式活动之前，努力把手洗干净的窘态。 白族这个爱清洁讲卫生的民族，尽管在乡下，长辈们还是容不得我们这些没有 父母直接管教的淘气包伸出沾满污迹的双手到处丢人现眼。我还记得每次洗手 时，我手上总是粘附着不知名的顽渍，连普通的肥皂都甘拜下风。每当我非常 认真费劲地清洗双手时，总有热心的白族乡亲们向我伸出救援之手，让我尝试 他们认为最神奇的方法清除我手上的污垢。 当木匠的舅舅，抓起一把混着黄油的木屑，教我去除手上的污渍；敬神的 二奶奶，给我一捧香灰，我试了几次，每次都灵；漂亮的小姑，从野地里摘来 一把叶面上长满细毛的野草并告诉我这是“洗手草”。我用手把叶子揉碎就水 冲洗，皂化的泡沫连同野草末奇迹般地把污渍带走了；烧火的五婶给我一把炉 灰教我就水搓揉；二大爷在田边教我找盐碱土洗手，六姨让我试试皂角（一种 长豆夹，含有天然皂素）的威力；看瓜的七爷让我试试瓜叶的效果，而大理石 厂的师傅则教我利用不同粒度的大理石粉清洗污渍；还记得在苍山之巅牧羊的 乡亲们让我用篝火剩下的木炭就着灰粉在清澈的山溪中洗手的快乐；在洱源的 温泉区，老乡们让我试用天然牛黄粉就着温泉的热溪流护肤又杀菌的感受… … 我敬可爱的白族乡亲们，在每次传授不同的洗手绝招时，总要特别叮嘱一 句：“这是最好的洗手方法。”当然，在应用了最好的洗手方法之，我的双手 总能洗得干干净净。 在那么多最好的方法中哪一个是最最最好的呢？受当时追寻唯一正确路线 熏陶的我不禁自问。经过若干年以后我随着阅历的增长才明白过来：如果加上 最快时间，最短距离等限制条件之，每一种不同的最好洗手方法实际上对应于 满足特定约束条件的相对最佳解。在众多的相对最佳解中，绝对地认定哪一种 是最最最好的能全宇宙通用实际上毫无意义。 在令人难忘的洗手往事中，白族乡亲们以他们的聪明，智慧和因地制宜的 实践。事实上给我们展现了一幕幕如何实际利用局部优化原理有效地解决问题 的范例。 ############################################ 【诗苑 】 中秋有感 胡维平 海上生明月， 天涯不共时。 千家居内外， 万户各东西。 故里欢圆夜， 异域恨别时。 婵娟难解语， 纸墨寄乡思。 ############################################### 【讨论会 】 国家主权，人民利益和民主政体 赵明整理 引言 最近在CPCA的电子邮件网络上展开了一场围绕着上述题目的讨论。参加讨 论的有CPCA悉尼和墨尔本两方会员，讨论的场所是两方的电子邮件讨论网络 （墨尔本cpca-talk@mailhost.trl.telstra.com.au，悉尼cpca_syd@mgg6. crcamet.mq.edu.au〕。讨论持续约两个星期。参加讨论的会员热情的投入了自 己的时间表述自己的观点，同时又保持了良好的讨论风度。 在讨论的过程中，双方都有会员建议把讨论文章整理保存起来，以便让更多 的会员共享。为此本人自告奋勇，担当了这一任务。在此要说明如下几点： 1〕限于彩虹篇幅限制，只能对讨论文章加以删节。本人尽量注意保留所有重要 的题目和观点，保持讨论的连贯性，并尽量避免造成断章取义。但我不敢保证 没有误差或遗漏。一个更完整的经过整理的文集保存在CPCA的网络上。有兴趣的 会员可以通过万维网阅读。 2〕为方便阅读，更为了方便没有参加讨论的会员理解讨论的背景和前后文关系， 我加进了小标题和点评。讨论的原文全是以英文书写，我既没有能力也觉得没有 必要翻译成中文。在此一概原文照抄。 3〕整理别人文章者不可避免会带进自己观点。我自己是参加讨论者之一，故此 绝不敢自诩不偏不倚。若有不当之处，欢迎批评指正。同时更希望以后若有类似 的讨论，能有自告奋勇者来编辑整理。 最后，让我代表CPCA理事会对所有参加讨论的会员表示感谢。 国家主权 一则一句话的消息，引发了一场讨论。9月1日，Geraldine Wang发了一条消息到CPCA 讨论网络： According to today's SMH newspaper, the US has paid $AUD7 millions to the victims of NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and made progress on setting property damage claims stemming from the attack. Shouyi Sun看似漫不经心的加了一句评论： I wonder what proportion the victims' families will get the compasation. Wen De Zhong觉得此种怀疑毫无道理，遂回复道： I have no doubt that the victims' families will get their rightful compensation, if you consider the politics involved in the matter. It is more than just the compensation. To such a big country, A$7 million is nothing. The importance is that, through this matter, Chinese Government shows to the world its strong commitment in protection of its sovereignty and people. Ming Zhao认为中国政府保护国民向来不力，于是作如下评论： I don't believe so. You may see strong protection of the Chinese Government to its sovereignty ( __sometimes__), but certainly not its people. Consider how people were compensated in the past. 自然，Wen De Zhong要Ming Zhao拿出证据： Can you raise an example that shows people were not compensated properly in the past if that involved compensation from a foreign country to Chinese people? I think we should separate external and internal matters. In the past, people might not be well compensated if the compensation involved in an internal matter. Ming Zhao答道： Just one example everyone should know, the so called Wei-an Fu during the Japanese invasion. The Chinese government even forbid them to travel to Japan for legal action, under the banner of ubiquitous "national interests". Or 1965 Indonesia anti-Chinese violence. Charles Xu补充道： China (I mean the government) even officially gave up the legitimate right for demanding war compensation from Japan. They call this "politics", but where is the position of people in this politics. Zhen-Jia Wu以他丰富的历史知识，又加了如下的补充： I think what Ming said about the "Wei-an Fu" ("Comfort Women") is true. The Chinese governments are too shy to have foreign indemnities. Some more examples: 1. Both governments across the Taiwan Straight waved the 2nd World War indemnities from Japan. 2. The Chinese Canberra Embassy has been heavily planted with electronic ears (bugs) in walls by CIA and ASIA when it was built 10+ years ago. This was revealed 2 or 3 years ago by the Australian media and there was no serious denial from the Aussie Government. Even the Japanese Government was concerned with its own Embassy's security and asked the Aussie Government to clarify whether it was treated in the same way as the Chinese. But there was no response/query/protest/demand/action whatsoever from the Chinese Government. Is it totally deaf, blind and dumb? If this time around the Chinese Government could allow itself or its citizens to accept foreign indemnities, thanks to God, it's an real improvement. 现在讨论的题目似乎从保护国民转移到历史研究了。Shiguo Cong写道： When looking at the Japanese War Compensation issue, one should not judge it interms of today's stance, but needs to review the circumstance surround that period. At that time China was facing great danger of a full scale war against the former Soviet Union. Every windows in my home town Harbin must have a very thick black paper curshion (spelling?) to block the light from emitting outside. All the glasses must be sealled by cross paper stripes just in case of an atom bomb smashes them. Probably one has heard that the USSR was going to destroy China's atom bomb bases. As USSR was the geatest enemy by then the war was imminent, China was in urgent need to concilate with its old foes, the US and Japan. In Japan, there were also some strong forces against China. Seeking consilation while rasing War Compensation would not help to soften the sentiment. Compared the gains with losses, Mao and Zhou made the right decision. The USSR invasion didn't materialise. Ming Zhang进一步补充道： Here are some facts about the circumstance about that period. 1. China and USSR was close to the war in 1969-1970. The Russians would like to first have a nuclear strike against China and ask the US to be neutral. The Nixon government said it would never tolerate to use A-bombs against another member of the nuclear club. So, the Russians were forced to change their mind (see Kisinger's memoirs & other sources). Zhou met briefly the then USSR premier at Beijing airport on his way home from Hanoi, and the danger of war was over. It was the US who prevent China from a nuclear war. Surely, we can argue the US did this then for their own interests-the winning of the cold war. This was 1-2 years before China had any diplomatic contact with Japan. 2. The Japanese War Compensation issue came in two parts which should not be confused. None of them was related with the tense relationship between China and USSR, but only related to the Japanese economic aid and the monopoly of political power by the Chinese Government. First was the offical waiver of War Compensation. When the then Japanese Premier (Tian2zhong1 Jiao3rong1 in pinyin) visited China in early 70's, he apologised to Mao the Japanese invasion. Mao's answer was that "we the Chinese communists should say thanks to you. Without your invasion, we would have been wiped out by the Nationalist long time ago and could not meet you here." Then, Zhou announced, on behalf of the Chinese people, that the Chinese government gave up the right of war compensation as a part of restoration of the diplomatic relationship. When we Chinese citizens were informed the descision, we were told that Mao's comment clearly demonstrated his humour as a statemen. Only if it were true! Then in the late 80s and early 90s, the Chinese war victims realised that legally even their government gave up the right for war compensation, they still have the right to demand compensation as individuals for their suffering. They tried to raise their voice and to obtain the government's support. However, the regime never supported them, instead they even barred them to travel abroad to lodge their cases and purged some intellectuals who supported these victims. Some lost theirs jobs as the price for their participation. Ming Zhao把讨论从历史又拉回到当前，并作了如下评论： The Wei-an Fu issue I raised in my previous mail happened just 1 or 2 years ago. Nothing to do with the USSR. A key point I want to make, and was confirmed by SCong's argument, is that whenever there is a conflict of interests between the "nation" and the ordinary people, it is always the latter to sacrifice (recent debate on Taiwan issue is another example). And worse, if there is a conflict of interests between "the Party" and the nation, it is the latter to sacrifice. The positive side is we do see some improvement in recent years. Shiguo Cong补充了一点历史花絮: The meeting between Zhou and the then Premier of USSR, Ke-Xi-Jin did soften the situation. However Mao and Zhou knew it was only temparary. Simply time was not right for the Russians. (A top Chinese Chef who cooked for Ke-Xi-Jin midnight at the BeiJing airport also helped :-) -kidding. After the working dinner, Ke-Xi-Jin shouldhave taken off straightaway, but he really loved the meal too much that he hesitated for a while and finally requested another meal to bring home for his wife.) When deciding re-establishing normal relationship with Japan and even giving up request for war compensation to speed up this process, there were huge resistance even among the highest-ranked officials. Zhao Ming is right, national interests is superior than ordinary people. 人民利益 Li Zhu对国家利益和人民利益之间的关系作了如下论断。自此讨论话题转移到这两者 之间的关系上: National interests is superior than ordinary people. This is true everywhere. Charles Xu的评论是: A good review and clarification, making a lot of sense. Wow, how pity are the Chinese people. We should be crying for ourselves. People were sacrificed for the so called "national interest" - the party's interest as I read it, but we still thought we had been well looked after. "Mum and Dad's beating me up is doing good for me" has been instilled by the Communist Party in several generations of Chinese as a collective political mentality. Pity. Yeh, the then-Nationalists and the then-Communists shared a lot of similarities, but the former has changed a lot since. How about the latter, yes, in many ways, but still too slow, out of tune with the pace of most part of the world - always in the fear of losing control over the people, always speculating people's loyalty, placing self-painted image and stereotyped party line above all. These efforts were well wasted and not worthwhile. Back to the US bombing issue, what the party and the government should do is to help victimised people to snatch as much financial benefit as possible from the US. $9M, too small, how much they paid to the victims in an aeroplane crash? The US deserves to pay and Chinese people deserve to receive. 针对Li Zhu的论点,Ming Zhao发表了如下的评论,直截了当的否定了国家利益至上的论点: Chairman Mao would be very excited to hear this statement more than 20 years after his death. So would every dictator. So many evil things had been done under this banner. And the sad thing is that we were educated to believe this is right. More than 20 years ago when I was in countryside and in the factory, I was deprived of the right for higher education, due to my family background. Yet I sincerely believed that was right, that was good for the nation's interest. How further can you see people's spirit be distorted in this way. China is still a country to believe the nation's interest is higher than its people. However if you see all the corruptions, all the crimes, and selfish behaviors, you have to admit people apply two different standards. In comparing "the nation" and the other people, the former is more important. While in comparing "the nation" and self, the latter becomes more important. The question is: can this work? I was shocked to read a report on a traffic accident happened last year on San-huan Road, Beijing. The driver was dead instantly. The mother was badly hurt while her 5 (or 7) year old daughter was trapped in the taxi. The vehicle got on fire. The mother could barely struggled out of the vehicle and put out the fire on her. The mother begged the hundreds people, yes hundreds people watching around, to save her daughter. Nobody responded. No, no one responded. they watched the mother's cry and watched the child burnt to death ... Can you believe these are our country men and women. Can you believe these are people who are patriotic more than anyone else in this world. Remember, this is a country who had Xian Xiu-li to sacrifice her life to save the factory, who had Jing Xun-Hua to sacrifice his life to save the log. They died in glory for saving the nation's property. In the first few months in Australia, what impressed me most was not its high living standard, its beautiful sky. It was its attitude towards the people, the ordinary people. You would see "the nation" spend millions of dollars to rescue an ordinary people. Does anyone ever ask if the life of this ordinary people worth the millions? I believe the interest of a nation is the collection of its people. In case of a conflict, the interest of the nation should give way to the interest of the people, unless there is a conflict of interest with other people. That is my understanding of human right. For comparison: - Chairman Mao once said: (roughly the meaning) Don't be afraid of the atomic bomb. It can kill hundred millions of Chinese people. But we have more. - In recent Bosnia conflict, US refused to send ground troop, for the fear of the death of their soldiers. Ask yourself (taking out the factors of living standard and culture), which country do you prefer to live in? Xing Zhang对美国不出动部队的解释是: Americans did not send their soldiers to ground battle field not because the government cares about people but the people do not want to go to the war. (Ming Zhao补记:这里的结论还是在民主国家人民的意志可以压倒领导人的意志) Zhen-jia Wu对国家利益至上的理解是: I regard this statement roughly correct. Strictly speaking, it might not be complete, as the national interests is just the common, combined and distilled interests of ordinary individuals. The opposite statement that "Individual interests are superior than the national interests" is definitely wrong. (这里有删节) The tragedies happened in the cultural revolution were not caused much by the slogan "National interests is superior than ordinary people" itself, but by the absurd way apllying it. Wen De Zhong的理解是: Every individual has his/her own interests. I don't care what they are. But I believe people, or a group of people, have common interests. To my understanding, national interests are the interests represented by most of its people. Therefore, I think that "national interests are superior over individual interests" is basically correct. You as an individual may object GST, but it is Austalia's national interest, is that right? I think it is the interest of all Chinese people (no matter they are Chinese-Australian or Chinese-American ..., if they regard themselves as Chinese) want to see a better and stronger China. We want forward-looking not backward-looking. I don't think continuous criticism would help. I believe that constructive and helpful suggestions, encouragement and advices would work better than continuous criticism. Chongyi Feng的评论指出了国家利益至上的危险性: Just for your information. Although nationalism is widely accepted as part of modernity, the consensus among intellectual community throughout the world is that ultranationalism is harmful for everyone, including individuals, nations and the international community as a whole. Ping Cao引用了故美国前总统肯尼迪的一句名言: To me, it is readily to distinguish differences between the two mentioned. Also, for the words "Don't ask what the nation can do for you, but ask what you can do for the nation" by an elect president, it's clearly an effective signal, which did not imply anything, such as the interest of a group. 对此Charles Xu回复道: I feel too hard to chew up these dry concepts. My limited history knowledge tells me that President Kennedy was assassinated because of his intention to pull out US troops from Vietnam war, in other words to save lives of thousands of soldiers, which was apparently in conflict with the "national interest" as disseminated by many politicians at that time, particularly those supported by the US firearm industry. Forget the short-lived President Kennedy, and it may be more worthwhile to cast an eye on the visiting President Jiang to see how he'll cook up the soup of national interest (Taiwan issue) and people's interest (human rights) in Australia. The following forwarded article is from today's South China Morning Post. (略) 讨论至此,Ping Cao对这场讨论以及CPCA本身发表了如下的见解: I'm glad to see that CPCA offers such a place for her members to participate in. The current key members (and previous) start topics from time to time. I believe that most of the members enjoy them a lot although some are sensitive, trickiness or tough. So far, I could not see any unhealthy discussions (or argument) except that some discussions become intense or excitable sometimes. The participators are still well self controlled. . More encouraged, everyone showed his/her individuals during the debate and had a taste for rationality and an interest in facts. As said by someone, this kind of people, intellectuals, who develop their powers of reasoning, have a critical habit of mind which makes them resistant to the kind of propaganda that works so well on the majority. Intellectuals are kind of people who demand evidence and are shocked by logical inconsistencies and fallacies. This has been proved again by the members of CPCA. Many members of the CPCA have a "Philosophy" degree. "Philosophy teaches us to feel uncertain about the things that seem to us self-evident". Jesus, they have showed their capacity for moral choice so well. As a consequence, what I have learnt is that there is always a risk of disagreement when you start a topic and none of us should expect to get support or cheer from each member. This is all the CPCA about. 民主政体 讨论至此似可告一段落.但是由于讨论并不是单线索进行,以及电子邮件发送的时差,立即刹车是 难以做到的. Xing Zhang对若干讨论者的立论作了如下批评: I simply have problem with the statement that Chinese government DOES NOT care about its people while other governments DO. There is also a problem to use current standard to measure against what happened in the past. One must understand that the world has changed quite significantly during the past 50 years, though may not be in the fundamental way. What people think now is very different from what people believed then. Therefore, please do not use one side of the story to make conclusive judgment, particularly when criticizing someone who is also human like you. 这一批评引来了Charles Xu的回答，其中点到了中国的腐败问题: Chinese government certainly cares about its people in many ways but as I think taking care of its people is the sole responsibility of a government, which should be under constant improvement, rather than a merit the government can boast. Chian is certainly changing towards a good direction but if the government can allow and listen to critical views on its performance and policy it can only do help rather than damage (that's why we need Opposition Party here in Australia). This could be a latest very true story in China (for example during my visit in Shanghai this June). You were cordially invited by a long-parted old friend, who happened to be just promoted to a junior manager's position in charge of a very small governmental office, to a dinner in a luxurious restaurant situated in the prestigious Hang Shan Road. You were so happy for (and probably a bit admiring to) your friend as his wellbeing demonstrated everywhere, picking you up in a new Audi, ordering lobsters without a blink of eyes, etc, etc. Then you may feel a bit uneasy at the end of the banquet when you caught a glimpse of the bill - 2,500yuan. The uneasiness would soon turned into deep worry as you were assured that he would reimburse the bill tomorrow from a government account. When you stepped out the restaurant the only feeling you could bring into your aftertaste was sadness because he boasted how easily he could bury this tiny bill into a huge pile of bills raised from his boss' numerous "public relationship" activities. The phrase at the moment fleshing through your mind, I bet, was - "the tip of a iceberg". Licheng Zeng的看法是: Interesting ideas. I would agree with what you said in the first and the second paragraphs, but I think the link between them is rather superficial. I had similar experiences in China, US, Australia and Japan (though I am never lucky enough to taste lobsters). My friends, bosses and relatives would take me out for dinner and later bill either the government or employers for the expenses. I really don't think having an opposition party or democratic society will solve this problem. Fighting corruption is a long standing issue for both democratic and totalitarian societies. Both have developed effective counter measures, but both have failed to eliminate the problem. (some examples, Qing dynasty is less corrupted than Ming dynasty, Singapore may be less corrupted than US ...). I think this is a separate issue from democracy. The point I'd like to make here is that many people attribute the social problems China is struggling with now to the current political system there and to the communist party. I think that's a single-minded and superficial observation. Ping Cao探讨了反对党的作用: Definitely no countries have no corruption in the world. However, its degree differs in each for sure. An absolute power develops and nourishes corruption is also true. Opposition party regarding a sign of democracy is a way, may be the best way human can find to limit its growing. The way is successful in many countries. In Australia, a Minister must step down for dirty money a few hundred bucks. Have you heard of a political joke overthere: Kill 100 out of 100 of Chu-Zhang's (my note: a title of a small boss of a dept), must be innocent included, but the elimination of them is in odd number or stagger, then you'll miss one at least. This described a degree. I do not mean it's a precise figure but it's people's complaint. Opposition party likely becomes more corruption after the power held. There will be a new opposition. If a country has an opposition party, speech freedom and media freedom, which we are enjoying, can become reality in the country. The people then will know what's happening and what's true. Think about what a tragedy will be if we can read email only but cannot send our feedback to senders. One concept misleads Chinese people for many years that an opposition party (or group), if it occurs, must be controlled by foreign forces. So the leaders of it are belonging to the category of traitors. This is partially correct and partially wrong. Look backward to China history from President Sun to Chairman Mao. Would you agree to that an opposition party is important to China? If not, would you agree that there will be an opposition party in China that we can see in the future? Kevin Fan认为合理的工资结构是抑制腐败的有效途径： I just read Asianweek, which talks about Chinese salary structure. The average salary of private sector is about five time higher than the one of public sector. The gap is highest in Asian countries. Software engineer would earn more than Chinese chairman. This kind salary structure is inviting wide spread corruption among the bureaucrat. In Singapore and Hong Kong, the government always make sure the salary of bureaucrat is higher than the one of private sector. In Singapore, the government also holds the super fund of public servant. If the public servant is fund to be corrupted before they retiring, government will take over the super fund. Singapore is the least corrupted country in the would. Licheng Zeng进一步分析了民主政体对腐败的抑制作用： First of all, I believe China needs to be more democratic; allowing truly opposition party to compete with the ruling party, true freedom of speech and a more independent legal institution etc. The society, I hope, will then become fairer, intellectually more creative, more fun to live in than now. However I'd like to argue against two popular beliefs: 1) Over the years, I have heard those democratic advocators teaching us that all our major problems are the outcome of not being democratic, and that democracy is the right panacea for all these problems. Taiwan independence advocators could go down along their independence path under the pretext that a democratic TW cannot be unified with (into) a non-democratic mainland. Because democracy is now almost a synonym of "the best social form to date" and because China is not democratic, people tend to (deliberately or not) relate all kinds of issues to this fact, regardless of whether they are really relevant, remotely related or completely different matters. Using government money to pay dinner bill is what I consider a matter remotely related to democracy. 2) Democratic society is less vulnerable to corruption than non-democratic ones. Freedom of speech, monitoring by opposition parties are effective measures developed in democratic society to check corruption. In a totalitarian society, a government has its own way of dealing with corruption as well. The austere policies introduced by the founders of a new dynasty like in Ming,Qing and Mao effectively wiped out corruption for several decades. These are what I call "low-tech" corruption. How about the practice of lobbying politicians, inside trading, hiring prominent solicitors/accountants to achieve personal gains (like Packer is doing) etc? These "high-tech" forms of corruption are more commonly found in western countries, yet we generally don't count them as corruption when talking about corruption in 3rd world countries. In my view, corruption and anti-corruption is a constant theme for any society. No social formula provides a solution for this. Any bureaucracy just has to work on this issue intensively all the time. Zhen-jia Wu并不认为民主能够更有效的抑制腐败，以新加坡和俄国为例： I agree with you that corruption is a matter remotely related to democracy, however I disagree with you that a democratic society is less vulnerable to corruption than non-democratic ones. One example is what you mentioned, Singapore, which is non-democratic, but its corruption is the lowest and its income per capita is the world highest (higher than the US). Another more important example which affect my faith in the past decade is Russia. （以下略〕 Ming Zhao提出了经济基础，指出政体必须适应经济基础： There is a more fundamental factor in shaping a society, that is the form of the economy. The best form we know so far is the so called western capitalism, with variations like free capitalism (US), western socialism (north Europe), and may be Singapore format, etc. The communist economy has long collapsed, or exists only in some tiny countries like North Korea. The ideology must support the fundamentals (Does anyone argue about this?). There is no argument Chinese economy has abandoned the old communist style socialism. It is now a mixture of many (or any) types of economies. Its direction is toward the western style private economy, or capitalism. Yet the presently dominant ideology has fundamental conflict with this form of economy. You can see in many ways the society is deeply divided, either ideology or economy (including double standard I mentioned in previous email). The present system cannot last very long. The way out can only be one of the two: either to change the ideology to suit the development of economy, or to induce massive social conflict with a consequence of destroying the economy. When we discuss democracy, we have to put it within this context. Kevin Fan认为民主会随着经济发展自然成长，而稳定则是至关重要的： I think the democracy will come naturally when the economy has developed to some degree like what has happened in Taiwan and Korea. When majority of the people asking for it, nobody can stop it. Although China's economy is 7th largest in the world, may be 4th one in the near future, but the GDP per capital is only around $1000 US dollar. It is still a absolute poverty by western standard. India has sort of democracy. The government has been changed three times in two years. The government has never been able to concentrate to address the fundamental problems: poverty, population explosion, national unity. Before communist took power, China has a history of prolonged civil war for more than one hundred year. It is certainly not very good for China to slip back to chaos again, like what happened in Russia and Yugoslavia. Licheng Zeng发表了自己对民主的研究心得，并提出了若干疑问： In my previous submissions, I tried to make a point that democracy and corruption are related, but ultimately different issues. Now I'd like to follow up the on-going discussion of democracy in China. Personally, I like the idea of democracy, though admittedly, I don't understand it very well, and living overseas hasn't convinced me yet that democracy is the way that China should go for. In spare-time reading, I have came across some interesting observations about democracy: 1) An ANU professor commented: "China could not manage itself without an emperor, and could not enter the modern world with one." (something like that, but could not remember the exact wording) 2) A historian observed that most of democratic countries in history have practiced slavery, examples are ancient Greek states, Rome republic, Britain and US nowadays. And the tendency is such that the more dominating power they have over the neighboring countries and less threat from outside, the more democratic they are within its own people. 3) Some say a democratic government may be less efficient than a totalitarian government in handling crisis, however in the long run, it can avoid serious mistakes caused by dictators (like Cultural revolution in China under Mao's reign) because it can be checked by oppositions. Therefore it is better for sustained development. 4) Many believe that when economy matures, democracy follows, like Kevin just mentioned. But how about Ancient democratic states like Rome, and how to measure the maturity of economy? 5) US, being the most successful democratic society, has supported and protected some of the most notorious dictatorships in the 20th century, like Latin American countries, Philippine and Indonesia. (of course, China is no better in this regard, just thinking of its support for Cambodia). 6) .... These interesting observations, though may be very superficial, do have some point it them. I am lost. And as such, all I can say now is that adhering to an ideology in running a government, whether its communism or democracy is just very stupid, a stupidity we would not notice when we are in practicing it. Like in cultural revolution, blind followers never consider their actions as a stupid act. Chongyi Feng对Licheng的疑问作了一个较为系统的专业化回答。其中的一些说法对我们从事 技术工作的人似乎很有启发： The essence or the most important principle of democracy is "popular sovereignty". In other words, sovereignty belongs to the people, not to any party, king, emperor or any individual. In the ancient Greek, there was "direct democracy", where the citizens of a city-state would elect the leaders and decided important matter at the assemblies for entire population. "Direct democracy" is no longer viable for the big countries since the modern times. Therefore "representative democracy" or "representative government" has been invented. In order to guaranttee "popular sovereignty" under representative democracy, three things are essential: 1. General election to guaranttee that the only legitimate government is a government with the consent of the mojority of the population. 2. Rule of law (not rule by law), where constitution enjoys supremacy above any party or individual. Both election and rule of law are crucial to make the government accountable. 3. Balance and check of power, including multi-party system; separate power between legislative, excecutive and judiciary branches; and independent media. Democracy is by no means an absolute good in itself. What it offers to the humankind is to avoid greater evils, such as a civil war to change government, dictatorship, widespread abuse of power and structural corruption. Democracy never ends corruption, what it can do at best is to bring corruption to a somehow acceptable level. At theoretical level, I don't think there is any communist regime or right wing dictorship arguing against democracy. Communist regimes in the world usually hold the following two contradictory positions regarding democracy: 1. Communist countries have achieved proletarian or socialist democracy, a higher form of democracy than the bourgeois or capitalist one. (This argument has been losing its appeal during the reform process.) 2. Economic or cultural conditions in the socialist countries are not ready for a full democracy. ( but it is hard to prove with statistics or empirical evidents that GDP for capita or educational level for Britain or US in the 17-18 centuries were even higher than that in those socialist countries in this century). Licheng Zeng对Rule of Law似乎仍然没有完全明白： One thing I'd like to point out specially is that "rule of law" is not the unique characteristic of democratic society. Ancient Egypt and China have developed fairly comprehensive laws that touch almost aspects of society. "Rule of law" again is not without problems. In fact, the essence of Confucius ' theory is "to achieve a "better" society through education (teach people the idea of benevolence), rather than through imposing harsh laws." Chongyi Feng进一步解释如下： "Rule of law" is largely a modern concept, which demands equality of everyone before the law. Among other things , the law, and the constitution in particular, is created to limit the power of the government and protect the rights of citizens againts any abuse by the government. What we Chinese had in imperial China for thousands of years was "rule by law", where the government made use of its law as an instrument to regulate, govern and punish the population. 在澳大利亚居住12年，回国15个月的Zhou Bo从河北省张家口发回了如下的议论。这一 近距离的观察相信对我们久居国外的人来说必有重要的参考价值： Ideology is probably the least talked-about topic in current China. Certainly one hardly hears anything about Marxism, Leninism or Maoist Thoughts. The closest thing one can hear is Deng's theory, the so-called socialist market economy with Chinese characters. In this regard one has to say that even the Communist Party became pragmatic, not idealistic - to improve people's living standard by whatever the means effective, or appears to be effective. In essence, if one has to talk about ideology, China is now transiting from feudalist relics to capitalist with a so-called socialist decoration superficially. One party dictatorship of the government system is not directly and wholly related to the communist ideology but more of a reflection of the feudalist relics. It is in this context, one can easily understand problems facing with contemporary China, rampant corruptions, millions of redundant workers and so on. Corruptions are quite wide spread, probably worse than the situation before 6.4. But please remember this is not necessarily related to dictatorship - in the first part of the 50s, the Communist Party wiped out drugs and prostitution and is quite corruption-free (by most standards). Many of the social problems now facing China is partly due to the opening process, the old evils came back with introduction of western practices. Of course one has to admit that lack of independent checks that are prevailing in western democratic societies, worsened the situation. However, lack of democracy is not the reason for corruption. As for the question whether democracy will prevail in China, one has to see in many ways that China is moving towards that direction, albeit slowly. At the village level, election of village officials has been made a truly democratic process in most parts of China now. The next step is real elections of representatives to the people's congress at the county level. In this regard, one has to admit the far-reaching influence of several thousand years of feudalist relics makes full democracy at the national level not a viable option at least in the near future. China certainly needs a powerful central government that only dictatorship can offer to make the necessary transition from a backward economy to a relatively modern economy. Contemporary China is a mixture of hope and despair. On one hand if one looks back the past twenty years and the progress of economic development one is full of hopes that China will prosper in the next century. On the other hand there are so many problems that any one of them could prove to be fatal to the country's destination: the potential political instability, redundant workers, rampant corruptions that are closely related to power and dictatorship. One can only hope that these problems will be resolved gradually as the economy progresses. The relevance of this to those of us who live outside China has, as always, to be that a strong and powerful China will make us, overseas Chinese, stand up and feel proud. So we certainly care about the fate of the county, or motherland if I may use the word. 讨论继续到9月16日。我所搜集到的最后一个议论为Richard Yuan所发。限于篇幅限制， 这里无法收入更多的讨论内容。我在此深表歉意，并祝愿CPCA的讨论网络上今后会出现 更多高质量的评论。 ###################################################################### 【笑林 】 何冀闽供稿(摘自英特网) 更多 A:B你干麻累成这样子啊? B:我跟在公车的後面跑回家省了二十块钱 A:你怎麽不跟在计程车後面跑呢? 那样的话不是可以省更多? B:......... 吹牛不上税 有一个山东人对一个苏州人说:“听说你们苏州的桥很高;” 苏州人回答:“对啊,去年6月有一个人从桥上掉下来,到现在还没落水呢.” 接著苏州人问山东人:“我也听说你们山东的萝卜很大,我很想去见识一下.” 山东人说:“你不用去山东看了,因为明年我们的萝卜就长到苏州来了.” 钓鱼 大明看见小强拿着一面镜子站在湖边 大明:小强,你在那里做什麽. 小强:我在钓鱼. 大明:用镜子钓? 小强:不错,这是一种新的钓鱼法,我就要发大财了. 小明:你能把这个方法告诉我吗? 小强:能,你给我一百元我就告诉你。 小明乖乖付钱. 小强:好,方法是这样的,你把镜子对着水面, 一看见有鱼游过就马上用镜子的反光去吓它. 鱼儿吓昏了你就可以把他给捞起来. 小明:胡说八道,这样怎麽可能钓到鱼.你钓到几条了/ 小强:今天你是第五条. 违者法办 电站外面高挂一块告示，上面用红笔大书：“严禁触摸电线！500伏高 压，一触即死。违者法办。！” 谦 虚 老张作报告，他谦虚地说：“同志们，我水平低，讲话零零碎碎，像羊拉屎。” 下面听众顿时哄堂大笑，他接着又说：“不合大家的胃口，请多多包涵。”下 面听众一听，个个瞪目结舌。 猪 老王在山区里开车欣赏风景，突然见到另一辆从前面的弯子拐出，向他引面驶来。 那车的司机探出头来对他喊了一声：“猪！”没有慢下来就绝尘而去。他百思不 解，不甘示弱地回头朝刚才那辆车的背影大喊：“你才是猪！”就在这时，他的 车撞上了猪群。 醒酒的东西 “我想我是喝多了，”老米对餐馆招待说，“给我拿点什么醒酒的东西来吧！” “好的，”招待说，“我这就去拿账单！” 装灯泡 两个人在装灯泡，一个人踩着另一个人的肩膀上工作。上面的人把灯泡装上去后， 便说：“好了，现在开始转圈吧。”下面的人不明白，就问：“转圈干什么？” 上面的人不耐烦地说：“你这个人怎么这么笨！这灯泡是螺丝口的，你不转圈， 我怎么能拧上呢？” 另有所怕 有一个人，被朋友邀请去参加高尔夫球四人对抗赛。“实在抱歉。”这人说，“我 太太从来不喜欢我打高尔夫球。”“何必怕她？”另一位球取笑他：“你是个男 人，还是一只老鼠？”“我是男人。”这人说，“但是我太太怕老鼠。” 青蛙王子 凝视水晶球的吉普赛相士对青蛙王子说:「你就要碰到一位美丽的年轻女子,她会被 你吸引住,情不自禁的想要深入了解你, 接近你...」青蛙王子说 : 「太好啦! 会 在什麽地方?」相士回答 : 「在生物学班上...」 互敬互爱 岳父母结婚叁十年，互敬互爱，从不吵架，为此我结婚时特地去请教岳父大人。 岳父说：“我结婚时我岳父就告诉我：＂不要批评你太太的缺点或怪她做错事， 要知道，就是因为她有缺点，有时做错事，才没有找到更理想的丈夫。″你要 记住这句话。” 伞状蘑菇 儿子：“爸爸，蘑菇是长在潮湿的地方吗?” 爸爸：“是啊，长在爱下雨的地方。” 儿子：“噢，怪不得蘑菇要长成伞的形状！” 感谢信 一家饭馆有一天收到一封信，大红的信封上十分醒目地写着“感谢信”三个大字。 正在闲坐的服务员们马上围了过来，因为这个饭馆几年来还是头一次收到感谢信 呢！他们争先恐后地拆开信读了起来：“叔叔阿姨们，你们好！自从开展灭蝇活 动以来，我们一直找不到苍蝇比较集中的地方。那天来到你们饭馆，一会儿就打 死300多只苍蝇。这使我们班荣获学校灭蝇竞赛第一名，特此表示感谢！” 哪儿景色好 爸爸带着小儿子气喘吁吁地爬到山顶。 爸爸说：“快看哪，我们脚下的一片平原景色多好！” “既然下面的景色好，我们干吗要花3个小时爬到上面来呢?爸爸。” 今天的事今天完成 父亲：“凡是今天能完成的事情，一定不要拖到明天。” 儿子：“这太容易了。把饼干盒拿来！” 有其父必有其子 “爸爸．今天老师对我说，有其父必有其子，这句话是什么意思呢?” “你一定又干了什么混帐事情!”爸爸说。 类似 一对夫妻年纪大了, 有时会讨论将来的事。 夫：「假如我先去世, 你怎麽办？」 妻沈思片刻後, 说以她活泼的性格, 她会找几个较她年轻的单身女人或寡妇一起同住。 然後妻问夫：「那麽，如果我先死，你又会如何做？」 夫：「大概一样，与你说的类似！」 赶飞机 某日，一名男士匆匆忙忙的拦了一部计程车，上车後．．． 司机：「请问要到那里？」 男士：「我要到机场，我赶时间，麻烦请快一点。」 司机：「赶飞机吗？几点的？」 男士：「十点二十的。」 司机笑着说：「别开玩笑了，都叁十分了，飞机又不会等你。」 男士：「对不起，我就是这班飞机的驾驶。」 ############################################